Bullets and Bombshells and Bullion, Oh My!
Even though Battlefield games have always been more about multiplayer, the single-player campaign in Bad Company is actually better than I expected. It follows the story of Preston Marlowe, a misfit soldier sent to B company, a group of other misfit soldiers that the military has deemed 'expendable'. As the tale progresses you and your team will embark on a mission to steal precious gold bullion from the enemy mercenaries as 'compensation' for the military leaving your unit out to dry. It all leads up to a climactic end fight followed by a rather cheesy, and kind of predictable, end cutscene.
Your character in the campaign is basically an amalgamation of all of classes in multiplayer, which helps fix the problem of not having the right class for each situation. I do have a few complaints though, like how enemies seem to have pinpoint accuracy and a constant fix on your location. This wouldn't be such a problem if the controls a little more natural. Trying to switch items and weapon modes seems simple, but couple that with the enemy AI's ability to hit you almost effortlessly will make you very annoyed. But not all is bad though; the campaign length is reasonable and the maps are large enough to have a plethora of ways to complete each objective. Add that to the amusing, and at times cheesy, storyline and you have a definite combatant of boredom.
Multiplayer in Bad Company can also be extremely fun and frenetic. Vehicle combat feels solid as well, with each Jeep, tank, and troop carrier having the sense of speed and handling you'd expect. Surprisingly though, and perhaps against popular opinion, helicopters are not as difficult to pilot now. Each class has its own special role on the battlefield, ranging from the support class healing teammates and fixing vehicles to the specialist class, keen on sneaking behind enemy lines to wreak havoc. There is also the assault, aka 'all around', class and the recon, or sniper, class. My favorite right now is the demolition class, specially tailored for up-close combat and destroying vehicles. With five classes (and each class having a variety of weapon models), and a good of armor to choose from, multiplayer in BF:BC is some of the best around.
Battlefield: Bad Company’s only multiplayer mode, at the moment, is Gold Rush. In Gold Rush, the defending team must protect gold crates located inside their base while the attackers try to destroy the crates before their reinforcement bar runs out. Giving the attacking team a “health” bar really keeps the action moving while trying to encourage teamwork and tactics. As well as having fixed spawn points Bad Company also has a squad spawning system, letting you join whichever squadmate is closest to the action. The one frustrating aspect of this is when trying to kill an opposing player and suddenly his/her teammate will spawn next to him/her and then kill you instead, or when an enemy player will stay in one building and, instead of fighting, will act as a mobile spawn point. While these annoyances by no means break the game they still cause enough frustration to warrant a complaint.
I really enjoy playing Battlefield: Bad Company and will continue to play for as long as I can. Of course it has a few problems that should have been fixed, but none of them go so far as making the game unplayable. With a short and sweet single-player campaign and the same outstanding multiplayer of Battlefields of the past, Bad Company is one of the best games I've played this year.
